I am Weak but Thou Art Strong

Providence Baptist Church iconProvidence Baptist Church

2 views

Ephesians 6:10

0 comments

00:00
What beautiful singing this morning. I'm grateful for that. We're sitting there singing the 23rd
00:05
Psalm. I just had this thought come to my mind. Think about the Bible for just a moment. And what does the
00:12
Bible liken the people of God to? Now, there are some verses, like for example, Proverbs 28 .1
00:18
says, the righteous are as bold as a lion. Okay, but the primary metaphor for the people of God in the
00:30
Scriptures is what? Sheep, right? The Lord is my shepherd,
00:36
I shall not want, why? Because we're sheep. He defends us, he helps us, he strengthens us.
00:43
That brings us to this morning's text in Ephesians chapter six. Turn there in your
00:48
Bibles. But I want to make a comment that many churches today,
00:54
I'm afraid, try to demonstrate to the world how strong they are.
01:01
They show forth, if you look at their website, and maybe they talk about their numbers, or you just see all these beautiful pictures.
01:08
And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that per se, but there's this idea among churches today that we just have to display to everyone how strong, how strong we are.
01:22
And I think about that song we just sang, I think about the 23rd Psalm, I think about the metaphor in the
01:28
Bible of the church being sheep. And I think about, oftentimes, it's not our own strength that we ought to demonstrate to a lost and dying world, but our weakness.
01:49
Because it's in our weakness that God's strength is magnified.
01:57
And that's what we look at this morning as we preach another sermon on Ephesians 6 -10. And the title of this morning's sermon is simply,
02:05
I am weak, but thou art strong. Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word?
02:15
As we go through this section, I'm not gonna do this every time, but I will again today, just to remind us of context, read the entire section.
02:23
So we're on the final section, the final major section of Ephesians 6, just right before the conclusion, which begins in verse 10 and ends in verse 20.
02:32
I'll read the entire section, but we'll be again this morning just in verse 10. So Paul writes, under the inspiration of the
02:40
Holy Spirit, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
02:46
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
02:52
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
03:05
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
03:17
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
03:27
In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
03:34
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the
03:41
Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
03:49
And also for me, that words may be given to me in the opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which
03:58
I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.
04:04
Father, we thank you for this text before us and we pray that it is preached rightly in context, honoring the original author, at the same time knowing that you, through your
04:19
Holy Spirit, are the divine author. We pray that we receive this word as it is intended, the very word of the living
04:27
God. Give us the faith we need to see with the eyes that can see, ears that can hear, a heart that is malleable and willing to be shaped and formed, feet ready to go, hands ready to work, a mind ready to think.
04:46
Let us depend upon your strength today. We pray that you would be honored in all that we do.
04:54
We pray that our answer to the text this morning is already yes, now just show us.
05:01
We pray that Christ is exalted, we see His life, death, burial, and resurrection in the text.
05:09
Minister to our souls, Holy Spirit, we pray that You are present and active in this portion of our worship, remembering that this is not the end of our worship, we are worshiping even now under the preaching of the
05:24
Word. Lord Jesus, we pray that You are exalted, and honored.
05:31
O great and triune God, remind us that Jesus Christ is worthy of a healthy church here, that we would aspire to bring glory to His name in all that we do.
05:41
We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Excuse me.
05:55
This is the second week now on this text, and so we looked at last week that the church militant must understand, number one, the seriousness of our reality.
06:08
That is, there is no peacetime Christianity. We are at war. We are called to arms.
06:14
Dads in the congregation, there's no peacetime in your family, in your homes.
06:20
The evil one would have your children. He would have your wife. He would have your home.
06:25
He would have your family. The enemy stands at the door ready to destroy you.
06:31
We must stay alert to the same in our homes, in our marriages, in our churches. Secondly, we talked about the steadfastness of the regenerate.
06:39
That is, the church militant is called to courage, not cowardice. And then thirdly, this is where we left off last week and where we begin today.
06:47
The church militant must understand the source of our readiness. The source of our readiness.
06:53
And that's our text. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
06:59
Our strength for this battle is in God.
07:04
Now, the phrase, be strong, in the text, verse 10, the phrase, be strong in the
07:10
Lord, is a present passive imperative. Now, I know, you think back to fifth grade grammar and you're like, that's a dark place.
07:20
I don't want to go back there. But it helps us. Grammar helps us in understanding the
07:26
Bible. So let's just review for a moment. So this phrase, be strong in the Lord, present passive imperative.
07:36
Present, just meaning it's an ongoing action. In other words, in one very important sense, you never don't need this command.
07:45
This is not something we accomplish in this life. In other words, you never reach a level of strength in your
07:51
Christian life whereby you stop needing to be strengthened by the Lord. You understand?
07:57
Be strong in the Lord. It's also passive. It's passive. It just reminds us that this strength that we have, it's
08:04
God's strength. It's not something we actively muster up in ourselves. We need the strength of the
08:10
Lord. In fact, here's a very well -known verse. Would you turn one book over to Philippians chapter four?
08:18
And the same word is used here in Philippians chapter four. You know this verse.
08:24
Philippians chapter four verse 13, but it illustrates what I'm trying to communicate. Paul says, and this verse is often taken out of context, but he says,
08:35
I can do all things through Him, and here's the same word, who strengthens, strengthens.
08:41
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. In other words, our text in Ephesians six is calling us to be acted upon by God.
08:50
We need the strength of God. It's a present passive imperative.
08:57
An imperative is just a command. When Paul says there in verse 11, or sorry, verse 10, to be strong in the
09:05
Lord, he gives us, by the
09:11
Holy Spirit, a command. So I don't pull myself up by my own bootstraps, but I do,
09:18
I am commanded, as it were, to be refreshed in the very strength of God. I am commanded by God to find my strength in God.
09:29
And what is it called when we disobey a command? It's called sin.
09:35
And so this is a present passive imperative. In 2 Timothy 2 .1, Paul gives
09:41
Timothy a similar command. He says, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
09:49
So Christians are to be strengthened by the grace of God in Christ. We are to be strong in the
09:56
Lord. This, my friends, is the source of our readiness. Now, as I meditated on this passage, as I thought through it, and I prepared my own soul to preach,
10:10
I came across an observation, and one in which
10:15
I believe that even I myself need to apologize for and be clear about something.
10:22
So first, let me give you the observation. Paul tells the church at Ephesus to be strong.
10:30
Now, here's the observation. I believe that for Paul to tell the church in Ephesus to be strong in the
10:37
Lord implies that Christians are at times weak.
10:42
In fact, let me put it this way. Christians are weak. And the reality is the
10:50
Christian is often much weaker than we realize or that we pretend to be.
10:57
Okay, we have created an evangelicalism where we have to pretend that we are impervious to weakness.
11:05
And in fact, someone comes in and you ask them, how are you doing today? You don't really want to know, right?
11:13
You want them to just say, I'm great, how are you? Because the moment they begin to say, oh brother,
11:20
I'm weighted down with temptations this week, and I'm struggling this week, and it's been a hard week, you're like, oh,
11:26
I got more than I was ready for. I just wanted to say, how you doing? And wanted you to say, I'm doing great.
11:33
We've created an evangelicalism that requires you to be impervious to weakness.
11:42
Social media is a contributor to this, I'm sure. Can I tell you,
11:47
I know you already know this, but let me tell you this, and young people, you need to listen to this particularly. Some of us have already figured it out.
11:55
If you haven't, I'm gonna reveal it to you. And then, particularly young people, you need to listen. What you see on social media is not the whole story, right?
12:04
You see the smiling family, you see the clean house, that's just because everything else is in this corner and the picture's taken in this corner.
12:12
You see a facade, if you will. In fact,
12:18
I'll say this, and I don't wanna get too personal, but just the other day, I noticed, you see a picture of a smiling, happy marriage, and it's like everything looks great on social media, and then a couple weeks later, you find out the couple has split up.
12:38
You're like, what happened? The photo looks so good. Well, you understand it's a facade.
12:44
There's things been boiling underneath. There's weakness there. So here's my observation, and I need you to listen to all of it, because I don't want you to just pull something out, hear the whole thing, and then
12:55
I said I have an apology, and I haven't forgotten, and I need to give that as well. But listen to the whole observation.
13:02
I think that what we need to work on, we need to work hard to create a culture in the church where weakness is an understood reality, where it is okay to not have it all together, where it is okay not to be okay.
13:24
Now listen to the whole thing. Too many churches are superficial here. They're just Facebook in real life.
13:31
Their smiles, their handshakes, they're putting forward a pristine image, their
13:36
Sunday best, so that everyone thinks that you are strong. But Paul says clearly in the text, be strong in the
13:45
Lord. That's not something a strong church needs. That's not something the bold and the beautiful need.
13:52
That's something the weak need to hear. So the idea is we need to have a culture within the church where we are free to confess that we're weak, to confess our sins, to say brother,
14:09
I need you to pray for me. I'm having a difficult week. I'm struggling leading my wife and my children.
14:17
I'm struggling. I sinned this week at work. Maybe I sinned egregiously against my boss.
14:24
I murdered my boss this week in my heart because of my anger toward him. We need to have a culture where we can confess and discuss these things without the rest of the church being like, weak,
14:37
I've got it all together. We must have this mentality.
14:44
It's a sin to pretend that you have enough strength in yourself. It's a violation of the command in verse 10.
14:52
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Listen to it this way.
14:59
It's okay to not be okay. It's not okay to stay there, right?
15:06
It's not okay. It's like, man, I struggled with sin this week. Well, okay, brother, we're all weak. Go and keep sinning.
15:13
That's not what we're talking about. It's okay to say I'm not okay.
15:19
It's just, it's not okay to stay that way. Now the apology. So here's the apology, and I mean this sincerely, and I hope that you'll take it sincerely, and I hope that you'll sincerely forgive me, but I want to ask your forgiveness for times that I have put forward, that I'm stronger than I am.
15:42
I don't want you to look at me and be like, man, I wish I was strong like Quatro because he's impervious, right?
15:49
He's impervious to pain. He's impervious to failure or weakness or sin.
15:54
I am not. I have doubts. I have, at times, a weak faith, right?
16:00
I fail. I sin. I need Ephesians 6 .10 just as much as you do to be strong in the
16:08
Lord and in the strength of his mind. So I ask your forgiveness.
16:14
Encourage me. Help me. We need to create a culture of Christianity where weakness is understood.
16:20
If we create a culture of Christianity that ignores our weakness, then all we do is open a wide door for the evil one to come in, and we allow and breed pride and insecurity and hypocrisy and ultimately opposition to the gospel.
16:38
Not only is it okay to confess our need for the Lord's strength, but it's ultimately sinful not to do so.
16:46
And those who love Christ not only confess their need for Christ's strength, but they seek to be strengthened by Him, to stand in the strength of His might.
16:57
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His mind. Let me tell you, some of you here, you need to hear this.
17:11
Christ did not come for the strong and the proud, but for the weak and the helpless, for the broken, for the sinful, for the unstable, for the weary, for the downcast and downtrodden, for the heavy laden, those who see their poverty of spirit.
17:37
Christ says, come, come. He doesn't say, come to me, all who are strong and have it all together.
17:44
But He says, come to me. All who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
17:55
Here's Christ. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
18:01
The only people that Jesus saves are sinners. Friends, is this you?
18:08
If this is applicatory to your situation, then your response needs to be to come.
18:16
Come to Christ. Children, come to Christ. Believe the gospel, repent of your sins, and join us in this war.
18:28
Now, for the local church, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. We must seek to have a culture where the
18:36
Lord's strength is necessary. Now, it's always necessary, but here's what I mean. A place where we acknowledge the necessity of God's strength.
18:46
Where we don't pretend, like we openly and readily confess, I cannot do this on my own.
18:54
I need the grace of God. Maybe sometimes we turn people away from the church because they look at the church and they think, you people have it all together.
19:06
I could never be like you. No, no, we need to show the community and our friends and our family and our neighbors and those around us, it's not that we have it all together, it's that we are residing in the strength of God.
19:20
We need the grace of God in our lives. And I know by needing the grace of God, that God gives
19:27
His grace through His word, through His people in the local church, through sitting under the preaching of the word, through fellowship with His people, through partaking tonight of things like the
19:39
Lord's Supper. Again, don't hear me if you say like, what did the preacher preach on this morning?
19:45
He said, it's okay to go around sinning. That's not what I'm saying. We're not condoning sin.
19:51
We're not dismissing sin. We're just owning our weakness. We are confessing our great need for God's strength.
20:01
I'm gonna misquote it. Is it Psalm 122? I lift my eyes up.
20:09
Up to the mountains. Where does my help come from?
20:20
And the psalmist says, imagine standing at the foot of Petagene and you look up.
20:26
Where does my help come from? It's not that mountain. It's not the sun or the moon or the stars.
20:34
The psalmist says, my help comes from Yahweh. My help comes from the
20:39
Lord who made heaven and earth. You must understand the source of our readiness.
20:46
And you will never do that by pretending that you have what it takes in and of yourself to endure this evil day.
20:54
You don't have what it takes in and of yourself. You are in need of the Lord's strength.
21:00
I strongly believe that there are some of you in our midst this morning, probably all of us in one form or another, who need to confess our weakness before the
21:12
Lord. My encouragement to you is do that. Like this is worship.
21:17
Like you do that as you're sitting under the preaching of the Word of God and you feel the Holy Spirit working in you through the preaching of the
21:25
Word. You say, yes, that's right, that's me. I've put forward being too strong or I try to pretend
21:31
I got it all together. I try to pretend I'm residing in my own strength. Confess that and ask for the
21:38
Lord's forgiveness and resolve to be strong in the Lord. Can we be a church that reminds one another of this great truth?
21:47
God's grace is the source of our strength. It was God's grace, by the way, that got you into this.
21:54
Like why are you here today? God's grace. God's grace brought you into the faith.
22:00
God's grace enabled you to come to Christ. He rose you up again from the spiritual deadness.
22:07
God's grace gave us new hearts. God's grace enabled us to run to Jesus in humble repentance and faith.
22:16
God's grace remains active in our sanctification. Philippians 2, 12 and 13 says that it's
22:22
God who works in us both to will and work for His good pleasure. It is
22:27
God's grace that we're dependent on in our evangelism to go before us.
22:34
Let me encourage you with something. September 16th is our next day of evangelism. I hope the whole church is involved in evangelism in one way or another.
22:42
I do hope that you're able to come and evangelize with us. If you're not able to come, will you remember us and will you pray?
22:49
Because we're desperately in need of the Spirit of God to go before us, to open doors.
22:55
And I mean that literally and metaphorically. Like we need the Holy Spirit to work in such a way that a door actually opens, right?
23:02
The physical door so we can talk to people. But also that the doors of hearts are opened by the
23:09
Spirit like He did with Lydia and causes Lydia to understand the things in Acts 16 that were taught or spoken of by Paul.
23:18
What I'm saying to us church is we need desperately the strength of the Lord and the power of His might.
23:24
True churches cannot exist in their own strength. Rotary clubs can, no problem with the rotary club, but it can exist in its own strength.
23:35
Football teams can. They can exist in their own strength. Maybe religious organizations can exist in their own strength.
23:44
But true gospel preaching, Christ honoring churches churches require, depend on the strength of God.
23:55
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Now, what does it look like to understand the source of our readiness?
24:01
What I'm asking here is this. What does it look like to depend on the Lord's strength?
24:07
And I have five indications here of what a church depending on God's strength looks like. First, a church depending on God's strength has trust in God's Word.
24:20
Trust in God's Word. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
24:26
To be strong in the Lord, friends, to be dependent on the Lord and the strength of His might is to trust the
24:33
Bible. It is to trust God's Word. Many Christians, in fact, if you said to 99 % of Perry County do you need
24:43
God? They would probably say yes. They give lip service to the idea that they need
24:49
God. But to say that you depend on God and to actually intangibly and really depend on Him are not always the same.
24:58
Okay, those who truly depend on God, trust His Word. What would you say to someone who all they ate was
25:06
Twinkies but they complained, man, I don't got any energy. I don't know why, as they eat a
25:14
Twinkie. I ain't nothing wrong with Twinkies but that's all they eat, right? You say, look, sir, you need to eat good food.
25:23
Okay, but what would you say about those who ate Twinkies, that's all they ate, and they confess their need of good food, they confess their weakness,
25:33
I have no energy, I have no energy, I need to eat good food, I need to eat good food,
25:38
I'm weak, but they never ate good food. You would eventually surmise that this person either
25:48
A, doesn't actually believe they need good food, or B, if they do actually believe they need good food, they just don't care.
25:58
Friends, this is the professing Christian who says they are weak, who's like, yeah, I'm weak,
26:04
I need the Lord, I'm weak, I need the Lord, I'm weak, I need the Lord, but they never give serious time to God's Word.
26:12
Are you really weak? Do you really confess your weakness? Then turn to the
26:17
Bible. Turn to the Word of the Lord. Seek to feast upon the riches of the
26:23
Word of God. Seek to see the glory of Christ in the Word of God. Seek to obey its commands.
26:30
Care about sound doctrine and solid food. If we're weak, and we confess our need for God's strength, we'll trust in God's Word.
26:40
A church that is depending on God's strength will be a church beholden to the
26:45
Word of God. A Word -centered church is a
26:52
Christ -empowered church. Secondly, second indication that a church is depending on God's strength, tenacity.
27:05
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Tenacity. Creating a culture of acknowledging our weakness and our need for God's strength does not create cowards.
27:18
Actually, it's the opposite. A church being strengthened in the power of God and Christ has a noticeable measure of tenacity.
27:28
I will do hard things. Why? Because it is Christ who strengthens me.
27:35
I will preach, I will evangelize, I will pray, I will lead my children in the ways of God, I will be committed to the local church,
27:43
I will choose positions or ideas or pathways that other people, they may ridicule because I'm not relying on my strength.
27:53
I'm relying on God's strength. I may be nervous at times, I may struggle with sinful anxiety at times, but it is ultimately the strength of God that overcomes these things and causes me to stand tenaciously against the enemies of my soul, which are the world, the flesh, and the devil.
28:15
The question is, if God is for us, who can be against us, right?
28:21
Now, that's from Romans 8, but if you notice in Romans 8, it says, for your sake, we're killed all the day long, right?
28:29
Like, the idea is, even though we're strong in the Lord, there will be persecution, there'll sometimes be martyrdom, there'll be pain, but I can do all these things, why?
28:38
Because it's not my strength, it's the strength of God. If the power of God that resurrected
28:45
Christ is flowing through me, what enemy can prevail? What enemy can defeat us?
28:52
So thirdly, perseverance. A church that is depending on God's strength, trusting
28:58
God's word, it has tenacity. Thirdly, perseverance. Let me just mention this. A church being strengthened in the
29:05
Lord, it's not a flash in the pan. I get flyers all the time, or I should say, not just me, the church and the church mail, flyers all the time about the next big thing.
29:18
You should be doing this. Here's the next big event. Here's what's trendy today. But a local church strengthened in the
29:25
Lord is just plowing along in faithfulness, day in and day out.
29:32
It's not about the next big thing. It's not about a flash in the pan. They're just plowing the field as it were.
29:38
They're just continuing in faithfulness, almost in imperceptible faithfulness. It is a church that's not on a sprint.
29:46
It's a church that's on a marathon. And it's a church that is enduring. And it's a church that is making impacts that don't just last years, but decades.
29:54
And not just decades, but generations. And not just generations, but a church is making impact that flows into eternity.
30:06
There are things that Providence Baptist Church is involved in and is doing that will matter in 125 billion years.
30:19
Perseverance. Fourthly, boldness. Be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might.
30:24
Now, admittedly, boldness and tenacity are similar. But if Paul can throw out all these synonyms, then
30:32
I'm going to as well. I'm gonna illustrate boldness with two quotes. The first is from John Newton.
30:38
John Newton is the one who wrote Amazing Grace. John Newton says this. Thou art coming to a king.
30:46
Large petitions with thee bring. For His grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.
30:53
A church strengthened in the Lord has bold prayers. Do you understand who we hold counsel with when we pray?
31:04
Do you understand who we're talking to when we pray? We're not just talking to a world leader.
31:10
We're not just talking to some rich person, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk or Bill Gates or whatever.
31:18
We're talking to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We're talking to the one who has planned it all, who owns it all, who has orchestrated it all for the good of His people and the glory of His own name.
31:30
Do you know who we hold counsel with? God. And so we bring bold prayers to God because we depend on His strength.
31:39
Another quote. This is from Baptist missionary William Carey. Famous quote from him.
31:46
Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.
31:55
Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.
32:02
So if tenacity is the ability to stand even in the face of a world that hates you and a devil that seeks to devour you, then boldness is not about merely standing there, but also attempting great things for God.
32:22
I'll say it this way. You know the old saying, don't just stand there, do something.
32:29
Well, standing there is tenacity, I'm able to stand. Doing something is boldness.
32:35
So I'll give you a tangible example. Listen, this is gonna hit home for some of you. So listen.
32:43
You say, I wish my neighbor knew the Lord. I wish my cousin knew the Lord. I wish my family knew the
32:50
Lord. I wish my friend from high school knew the Lord. Boldness is going home this afternoon and calling them and saying, can
33:03
I come over and share the Christian gospel with you this week, today, tomorrow.
33:10
Now you'll have a hundred reasons that'll come to your mind on why you cannot do that, on why that wouldn't be a good idea, on why it would just be better to do something else.
33:21
But to succumb to those is depending on your own strength. Isn't it? I invite you to consider verse 10.
33:28
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Don't be strong in self.
33:36
Don't be strong in your own winsomeness or whatever. Be strong in the Lord. Will you attempt great things for God?
33:45
Attempt great, some of you, young people. Some of you are older. I think about my boys, I think about Trey.
33:50
You're kind of getting a little bit older. Hoyt back there, I see you. I encourage you to think about your life, to think about all the things that you have in front of you.
34:00
And I know there's a thousand different things that you could be thinking about and some of these pathways that God Himself may lead you on, but I want to encourage you with something.
34:12
I want you to think about your life and I want you to think about, I'm going to expect great things from God and I'm going to attempt great things for God because He's worthy.
34:24
I'm calling the church to consider this motto of William Carey. Expect great things from God.
34:31
Attempt great things for God. I don't know any other way to think about Providence Baptist Church than this.
34:37
I'm weak. My faith is too often too weak. I am a worrier. I get concerned as a pastor about numbers and budgets and these things.
34:49
I have to fight my own sinful flesh in these things. But the text calls me to lay those things aside.
34:57
The text calls me to repent of sin in my life and to obey what God has told me here and to be strong, not in my own winsomeness, not in my own strength.
35:07
In and of myself, I can't preach my way out of a wet paper sack, but in God's strength, He's building
35:13
His church. And this is the strength we're called to. Trust in the word, tenacity, perseverance, boldness.
35:20
These are all things that a church that is strong in the Lord will manifest.
35:27
And here's a fifth one and final one for this point, humility. Humility.
35:34
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Listen to this. A church depending on God's strength is a humble church.
35:43
And it's made up of humble Christians. A humble church is a praying church.
35:52
Why? You understand that if you don't pray in a church that doesn't pray, it's very prideful.
35:59
We got this, God. No, a humble church is a praying church. We're depending on God.
36:05
We're seeking God's counsel. We're seeking God's blessing. We're seeking God's glory. And so we pray.
36:12
A humble church is also a praising church. A praying church and a praising church. What do you mean praising?
36:18
By praising, I mean any good that we do, any conversions that we see, any growth that happens, it's all the glory of God because it's
36:30
His power in and through us. Think about the little child. Think about the four -year -old. You put the four -year -old on the bicycle and you put them on the bicycle with training wheels and then you're the parent and the first couple of times, what are you doing?
36:44
You're just staying with them and you're just helping them. And they look up to you and they've got the huge smile and in their mind, they think,
36:53
I am Lance Armstrong or whatever. I am the best bicycler ever.
37:00
But it's all you, right? They couldn't do it without you. Okay, we're the toddlers on the bicycle.
37:09
And in anything that happens in this church, any soul that's converted, any person that joins, any good thing that happens in this church, we say, don't look at us.
37:20
Don't look at our pastors. Don't look at our members. Don't look at the men. Don't look at the women. Don't look at the children.
37:26
Don't look at the committees. Don't look at any of these things. Look to God because it's all from here on.
37:34
That's what a church that's strong in the Lord understands. Don't pat us on the back. Let's give all glory to God.
37:42
And just as a side note, I don't think that it's wrong to say it this way.
37:48
I believe that God is working here. I believe that God is working in our church.
37:55
But I can tell you, it's not because of the goodness and just the wonder and just the glory of the pastors or the members or this person or that person.
38:06
It's God. It's all God. And so we want to be humble.
38:13
The church is not a formula. I receive books sometimes, fascinating to me, that tell you, here's how you grow a church.
38:22
And it treats the bride of Christ like a formula. You add this here. Actually, it's like this.
38:30
Ladies, I think, hopefully, I'm thinking this on the fly, so hopefully this comes across, but ladies, think about this. Like, what would you think, what would you think if your husbands got a book on how to be a better husband and it treated you like a formula, right?
38:45
So, honey, like, you're upset, but it says right here that if I send you a text message that says
38:50
I love you, that you're not, like, what's wrong here, right? Like, our wives are not like, they're not like a car or whatever, right?
39:00
Like, that's not how we ought to think about our relationship in our marriages. Friends, even greater, it's not how we ought to think of the church.
39:09
The church is not a formula. We don't just plug this in here, plug that in here, do this, and then it creates something big.
39:16
No, no, Paul says it this way. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
39:23
And we give glory to God. Christians, depending on the strength of the Lord, are humble. Look, this is the type of church that Christ is worthy of.
39:31
A church seeking its strength in the Lord and in the power of His might.
39:38
Before moving on from this point, I do need to say this. Are you humble and patient with other Christians? Okay, because you know the only reason you got to where you're at in your sanctification?
39:50
The only reason you got to where you're at is because of God's strength in your life. This ought to give us a humble disposition towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.
40:02
It ought to cause us to be patient with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And if you find yourself being an impatient person or a proud person,
40:12
I humbly draw your mind back to the text. You're not obeying verse 10.
40:17
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. A church that is strong in the
40:23
Lord or trusts in the Word, has tenacity, perseverance, boldness, and humility. Now, two more quick points to mention, not nearly as long, and then we'll land the plane on verse 10.
40:34
The church militant must understand the seriousness of our reality, the steadfastness of the regenerate, the source of our readiness.
40:40
Fourthly, the summons to the righteous. The summons to the righteous. Now, Paul lays out this truth.
40:48
Finally, be strong in this command. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. And then building on that in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God.
40:57
So there's a really good point raised by Martin Lloyd -Jones. He says, there are some who say, all you need to do is hand it over to the
41:03
Lord and rely on His strength. They never say anything about the whole armor of God. I think that's interesting.
41:09
Some people try to live that way. They say this idea of let go and let God. I'm just going to give it all over to God and I'm not going to do anything myself.
41:16
I don't want to be guilty of preaching that way. So let me state clearly, to be strong in the Lord is not passivity alone.
41:24
To be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might also requires, verse 11, to put on the armor of God.
41:33
These things go hand in hand. So if you understand the text this morning, if you understand the seriousness of our reality, the steadfastness of the regenerate, the source of our readiness, then you will submit yourself to the summons to the righteous.
41:46
That is, you will listen to verse 11. You will put on, you will seek to put on the whole armor of God, which we'll talk about next week.
41:55
And in the coming weeks, eventually after that, we'll begin examining each piece. And you will consider these carefully and make sure that you're properly equipped to stand.
42:06
This is not just walking around. So it's not just like, I'm going to walk around and say, be strong in the Lord, be strong in the Lord, be strong in the
42:12
Lord. Rather, this is active participation in the war that's here, that's at hand.
42:18
By obeying the summons to put on the whole armor of God. So the church militant must understand the seriousness of our reality, the steadfastness of the regenerate, the source of our readiness, the summons to the righteous, and finally on verse 10, the significance of this remembrance.
42:36
The significance of this remembrance. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
42:42
I am so grateful that Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 is in the Bible. This call to arms is a significant reminder for every
42:52
Christian. S .M. Ball puts it this way. Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 displays the Christian life as one that is robust and requires courage and strength and gives a call to arms combined with comfort and assurance of the
43:06
Lord's provision and ultimate victory while not minimizing the dangers Christians face.
43:14
This is what the Christian life looks like. It's why we have spent two weeks considering the introductory verse to this final major section of Ephesians.
43:24
We need to remember what the last part of John 15, 5 says. Apart from me, you can do nothing.
43:31
Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. But imagine, if you will, Christ standing before us today and telling us the promises of His Word.
43:40
I am with you, I am in you, I am empowering you. Man, I'm ready. I'm gonna run through a brick wall, right?
43:46
Because that's the Lord Jesus and this is what the text is saying. We can be strong. We are to be strong.
43:51
We find our strength in the Lord. We're weak in ourselves. We're helpless in ourselves. We cannot stand in the evil day in and of ourselves.
43:59
In and of ourselves, we have no hope, no strength. We have no way to defend ourselves. We're sheep. We can't defend ourselves from our enemies, the world and the flesh and the devil.
44:08
Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. But there is a triumphant King set before us this morning.
44:18
One who has defeated sin and death and hell and the grave and bore the wrath of God.
44:24
And He bids the church today to keep running, to keep their eyes on the prize, to not give up, to remember that they have every ounce of strength they need for the battle at hand in Christ.
44:37
You say, I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. My marriage is hard and work is hard and my children are disobedient and coming to church on Sunday, I've got no strength.
44:48
I can't do it. Well, in a way, you're right. In and of yourself, you don't have what it takes to meet the challenges before you.
45:00
But the text is compelling us to find strength not within.
45:08
That's the world's message, right? You're strong enough. You're good enough.
45:15
You're beautiful enough. You can do it. But the message of the
45:20
Bible is you can't do it. You're ugly, right? Spiritually. You don't have what it takes to make it, but there is unlimited power for the believer in Christ.
45:38
Will you obey our text this morning? It's okay not to be okay.
45:44
It's not okay to stay there. Refresh yourself in the Lord. Listen, I'm gonna tell you, this is literally applicable to every soul in the room this morning.
45:53
There's not one soul in here today that does not need to obey what the Apostle has written in our text.
45:59
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His mind. Unbeliever, let me speak to you. Some of you children who are not yet believers, adults in this room, if you're not a believer, you need to first obey this command by surrendering your all to the
46:13
Lord Jesus, by giving up your own works, by giving up your good deeds. Some people think that to come to Christ, you just need to give up your sin.
46:21
That's true, but you also need to give up your good works, all your efforts at improving your sinful condition and admitting the only strength that can save you is the
46:30
Lord's. You don't need self -improvement. You need a resurrection. As Adrian Rogers said, you don't need a boost from below.
46:39
You need a birth from above. You need Christ. And God's power is glad to give
46:45
Christ to you. Will you confess your need of grace today? Will you repent of your sins and turn to Christ?
46:52
Will you seek Him this morning as the King He is and trust His atoning work for sinners?
46:57
I want to tell you, unbelievers, listen to me. Christ is worthy of your worship, and it is great sin and folly for you to not give
47:08
Him what He is due. Believer, you need to obey our text by confessing your weakness.
47:17
Some of you, it just needs to start by you just owning your weakness before God. What are you doing?
47:24
Like, what are you trying to hide? You want to try to act before the church like you're strong?
47:30
We already know you're not. The same with me. You want to try to act before God like you're strong?
47:38
He already knows you're not. It starts by confessing your weakness and that the battle that lies before you this day is too great for you to handle on your own.
47:48
You can't mortify your own sin in your strength. You cannot endure the onslaught thrown out by this wretched world in your strength.
47:56
You cannot stand against the schemes of the devil in your own strength, but the text is promising the strength of God available here for you today for the weak, for the messed up, for the not okay people.
48:12
Don't be a pretender this morning and take off the facade. It's okay not to be okay.
48:18
That's who the strength of God is for. It's okay to not be okay. It's not okay to stay that way.
48:23
Go to God in Christ. Confess your weakness. Run to the
48:28
Lord for strength. I close with a reminder of 2 Peter 1 .3. It says,
48:34
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
48:40
Through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, God's divine power, church, has granted
48:46
His people all things that pertain to life and godliness. I have no idea what specific areas you might need
48:54
God's strength in today. Maybe it's fighting temptation. Maybe it's fighting idolatry.
49:00
Maybe it's fighting laziness. Maybe it's fighting greed. Maybe it's fighting covetousness. Maybe it's fighting lust, immaturity maybe, worry, insecurity, whatever the case may be.
49:11
I have no idea what it is that you're fighting this morning specifically, but I do know that the text says,
49:18
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
49:24
All things. There is not a battle against the world, the flesh, or the devil that God does not have strength ready to supply
49:33
His church. You must not continue in sin.
49:41
Lack of trust, lack of worship, lack of boldness. Will you go to Him and trust
49:47
His Word? Will you confess your weakness this morning and even seek out the help of brothers or sisters in the
49:55
Lord? Some of you need to confess your weakness to God, and then you need to go beyond that. Ladies, you need to reach out to a mature sister.
50:06
Brothers, men, you need to reach out to a mature brother, and you need to ask their help for the things that you face and the battles that you're fighting.
50:23
Will we hear what the Lord says to us this morning, and will we do it by His grace and for His glory?
50:29
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
50:35
Let's pray. Father, we'd be remiss not to begin this prayer confessing our weakness and your greatness.
50:45
We are a church full of weaklings.
50:52
If you were to abandon us for a moment, the evil one would devour us. You told, the
50:59
Lord Jesus told Peter that Satan would sift him like wheat, but that you prayed for him.
51:08
Let not the evil one sift us like wheat. Protect us, help us, empower us.
51:16
Lord, there are some here today who need to confess their hypocrisy. Maybe they're a child, maybe they're an adult.
51:25
They've pretended to be a believer when they're not, and they need to confess their need for the strength of Christ, to repent and believe the gospel, to join us in this fight.
51:39
There are believers and church members in our midst today, myself included, who need a continual reminder of our weakness to find our strength in the power of God.
51:51
Let us be that church for the glory of King Jesus. We pray it in His name, amen.